Textile fabric and method of producing same



y 1947. s. BLOCH TEXTILE FABRIC AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SAME Filed Sept. 10, 1943 Patented July 1, 1947 TEXTILE FABRIC AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SAME Godfrey Bloch, New York, N. Y. I Application September 10, 1943, Serial No. 501,897

9 Claims. (Cl. 139-426) This invention relates to woven fabrics and more particularly to a fabric which is suitable for shirtings, pajamas, underwear, nurses uniforms, and the like. i

This application is a continuation-in-part of my co-pending application Serial No. 274,210, filed May 17, 1939, now Patent No. 2,329,452, issued September 14, 1943.

Prior to this invention, the several trades had long recognized the desirability of having a fabric with the lustre and sheen as well as the softness to the touch and the pliability or drape of fabrics woven entirely from synthetic fibres, such as rayon, which would at the same time maintain its original dimensions notwithstanding repeated launderings by the machinery and processes used in commercial laundries, anad which might be dyed with colors that would remain fast under such treatments. Fabrics composed entirely of synthetic materials are not capable of being so stabilized, except where the fabric is treated with specific resins and otherwise specially handled, which adds considerably to the cost; and no other fabric was available to these trades having all these characteristics.

It is one object of this invention to provide a, fabric having all of the foregoing characteristics.

It is another object of this invention to combine cotton fibres or yarns with other yarns composed of synthetic fibres in such a way that the fabric is predominantly composed of synthetic fibres and yet can be stabilized to a shrinkage and stretch factor of approximately one percent,

and can be vat dyed, both by the well known processes and mechanisms used for this purpose when treating goods composed entirely of cotton yarns.

It is another object of this invention to provide a fabric composed predominantly of synthetic fibres having cotton fibres in sufllcient concentrations but uniformly dispersed throughout the fabric so that the same can be stabilized, and by the processes in common use in stabilizing cotton goods.

It is another object of this invention to provide a fabric of the above indicated character in which various patterns and two-tone colo efiects can be obtained.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an inexpensive fabric having considerable sheen and softness of feel which can be woven in the close or fine meshes normally used in mens dress shirts, for example, and which may be vat dyed and pre-shrunk to have approximately the stability of cotton fabrics for the same purpose.

The stabilization of th fabric of this invention against shrinkage and stretch within the narrow limits or range demanded in the trades is preferably done by any of the processes commonly used for such stabilization of cotton goods, such as the well known Sanforizing process or the Sayl-A-Shrunk process. Th former process will laundry-stabilize cotton goods to about one percent shrinkage and stretch, and is preferred here, where it also will result in similar stabilization of the new fabric against shrinkage and stretch. That is to say, in the fabric produced according to this invention, the cotton attains its stabilized shrinkage, and the cotton fibres being dispersed substantially uniformly throughout the fabric, even though they are not present in every yarn or thread, the fabric is maintained stable within the same limits as goods composed entirely of cotton fibres and not withstanding the presence in the fabric of a major percentage of synthetic fibres which are not so stabilized.

Th term stabilization" is intended to include retaining the wearing qualities of similar fabrics when composed of one of the materials, and also maintenance of the strength, particularly a high wet'strength, of the fabric during processing and also during laundering thereof.

Briefly stated, the objects of this invention will be accomplished by the use of separate yams composed entirely of cotton fibres, or a spun admixture of cotton and synthetic fibres, interspersed along on dimension of th fabric with separate yarns composed entirely of synthetic fibres, such as spun rayon, and woven along the opposite dimension of the fabric with a yarn of such synthetic fibres, or an admixture of cotton and synthetic fibres. The arrangement of the yarns may alternate cotton and synthetic, respectively, or the yarns may be grouped, with a desired number of yarns to a group, the groups being alternated, or otherwise disposed, so as to produce pattern efiects and'also two-ton color effects when dyed, entirely according to the desires of the trade and the skill of the weaver. Due regard must be given for the presence of enough cotton to sufiiciently stabilize the cloth when subjected to the pre-shrinking process, and also to the presence of sufficient synthetic fibres that the object is not lost of having the lustre, sheen and softness of a, fabric composed entirely of such fibres.

To the above end, and considering the fabric as a whole, the minimum amount of cotton fibres permissible is approximately twenty percent. According to present experience, from twenty-five to thirty-five percent of cotton fibres is desirable,

but a higher percentage of cotton may be used.

It also has been found to be most desirable to have at least one of the yarns composed entirely of the synthetic fibres or spun rayon, and one of the yarns composed of a spun admixture of cotton and the synthetic fibres, but this is not the limit of this invention. One of the yarns may be entirely of cotton, as pointed out above.

When the fabric contains approximately seventy percent of spun rayon fibres, it has the desired lustre and sheen. Further increasing the percentage of cotton reduces the sheen somewhat, although a higher percentage of cotton may be present in this fabric, without losing the desired lustrous character, when single yarns of cotton and spun rayon are alternately dispersed throughout one dimension of the fabric, 1. e.,' a greater luster than would be possible if the fabric were composed of all blended yarns. Conversely, stabilization of the fabric according to this invention is attained with a very low percentage of cotton whereas such stabilization would not be possible with an all blended yarn fabric having such low percentage of cotton.

Where one of the yarns used in this instance is a spun admixture of cotton and synthetic fibres, there is a permissible latitude of percentages of each. A mixture of equal proportions is preferred, but the synthetic fibres may predominate in an amount up to approximately sixty percent with the cotton fibres evenly distributed throughout the yarn. It should be noted that as stated in my prior application aforesaid, both the cotton yarns and the synthetic yarns may be modified or contaminated with other fibres without altering their respective primary characteristics and such contamination ma be resorted to, to a limited extent.

It also will be understood that any of the yarns may be treated to produce the various well known novelty decorative effects, such as a mock twist, slub threads, flake threads, etc.

Fabric produced according to this invention may be kier bleached, as is done with cotton goods, whereas fabrics lacking the stability of the fabrics of this case cannot be so treated. I

The following illustrations are cited here as examples of weaves which accomplish the purpose of this invention, but it will be understood that these are cited by way of example only and are not to be taken as in any way limiting the weaves and patterns obtainable within the scope of this invention:

Example 1.-A broadcloth or plain weave cloth composed of alternating ends of cotton and spun rayon, and a filling of spun rayon. Such a fabric may be dyed with colors fast to bleaching, and preshrunk by a process similar to the processes employed in the pre-shrinking of goods composed predominantly of cotton fibres for launderable shirting use.

A dobby or twill weave cloth may be constructed similarly to the above example.

Example 2.--An Oxford weave composed of two ends of cotton and two ends of spun rayon, repeating across the warp, the two cotton ends weaving as one and the two rayon ends weaving as one, and a filling composed of a combination of cotton and spun rayon. This cloth also may be dyed with colors fast to bleaching and Sanforized.

Example 3.A twill weave having two sets of warp ends, one set of spun rayon, and one set of a blend of fifty percent spun rayon and fifty percent cotton, alternating end and end across the warp, woven with a filling of a single yarn composed of sixty percent spun rayon and the balance cotton, so that the overall content of the fabric will be about seventy-five percent rayon and twenty-five percent cotton, which cloth may be vated dyed and Sanforized.

The drawing illustrates diagrammatically in Figure 1 a plan view of a cloth made according to this invention and embodying still another construction example;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In the drawing, 0. indicates warp yarns composed substantially of spun rayon staple or other synthetic fibres, b indicates warp yarns composed substantially of cotton or other vegetable fibres, and 0 indicates the weft or filling yarns which, in this example, as may be composed of a mixture of vegetable and synthetic fibres.

The dyeing of fabrics according to this inventionmay be done in any usual manner, but this fabric lends itself particularly to the use of vat dyes and to the continuous method of dyeing commonly used for cotton fabrics, so that fast colors used in cotton shirtings can be used for this softer and more lustrous fabric, and the more economical continuous dyeing also is made available for such goods. On the other hand, fabrics composed entirely of synthetic fibres normally are not vat dyed or otherwise dyed by the conventional continuous process for the reason, as I understand it, that satisfactory results are not obtained both as to the evenness of the coloring and as to the return of the goods to shape.

Fabrics constructed according to this invention retain their proper shape during and after dyeing. Furthermore, the same apparatus may be used as is used in the dyeing of cotton goods, and the dyeing or coloring is very uniform.

In referring to vat dyeing, it is not intended to exclude printing the fabric produced according to this invention in patterns by the processes and mechanisms and with the dyes usually used for such purposes.

The dispersal of the cotton throughout the fabric, although concentrating the cotton into only a portion of the total number of threads makes it possible to produce spun rayon cloths or spun rayon single yarn cloths with but a small percentage of cotton therein which can be stabilized for shirtings, and dyed if desired.

The presence of cotton in the fabric should properly vary between the extremes of (a) cotton in only a portion of threads in one direction, and none in the threads at right angles thereto, and (b) cotton in all of the threads in one direction, and in some of the threads at right angles thereto. But the objects of this invention will not be accomplished if cotton is distributed equally in every thread of the cloth. For any given cotton content, the greatest stabilization is obtained by concentrating such cotton in a portion of the threads, but such threads will be uniformly distributed throughout the fabric.

By colors fast to bleaching in this case is meant those colors which remain true after subjection to bleaching and other treatments norand vat colors are a class of dyes meeting this definition,

By "pre-shrunk is meant to shrink to the standards for and by the processes in use for launderable cotton shirtings and the like.

I claim:

1. A single yarn woven cloth composed predominantly of spun rayon in which only some of the yarns contain cotton fibres to the extent of between twenty-five and fifty percent of the whole, and some of the yarns have no substantial cotton content, the fabric being dyed with colors fast to bleaching and pre-shrunk.

2. A single yarn woven cloth having warp and filling yarns composed predominantly of synthetic fibres in which only some of the yarns in one direction have a substantial vegetable fibre content to make up an overall total between substantially twenty-five and fifty percent of the whole cloth, and some of the yarns have no substantial vegetable fibre content, the filling yarns being substantially alike, and the fabric bein pre-shrunk.

3. A woven fabric composed of three groups of single yarns, two of which are interspersed with each other throughout one dimension of the fabric, and the third group being inter-woven with the first and second groups of yarns at right angles thereto, said yarns being composed of synthetic fibres and vegetable fibres, the synthetic fibres predominating in the fabric and the vegetable fibres being present in a portion only of the yarns to an extent not less than approximately twenty percent of the whole and being uniformly distributed throughout the fabric, while some of the yarns have no substantial vegetable fibre content, the fabric being colored with a color fast to bleaching and shrunk stable to subsequent shrinkage and stretch of approximately one percent.

4. A woven fabric composed of three groups of single yarns, two of which are interspersed with each other throughout one dimension of the fabric, and the third group being interwoven with the first and second groups of yarns at right angles thereto, said yarns being composed of synthetic fibres and cotton fibres, the synthetic fibres predominating in the fabric and the cotton fibres being present in a portion only of the yarns to an extent between twenty and thirty-five percent approximately of the whole and being uniformly distributed throughout the fabric, while some of the yarns have no substantial cotton content, the fabric being pre-shrunk.

'5. A single yarn woven fabric having two sets of warp yarns, one set substantially of cotton and one set substantially of spun rayon, each distributed across one dimension of the cloth, the whole being colored with a color fast to bleaching and shrunk stable to subsequent shrinkage and stretch of approximately one percent.

6. A woven fabric composed predominantly of spun rayon having two sets of warp yarns, one set substantially of cotton and one set substantially of spun rayon, each distributed across one dimension of the cloth, the whole being fully shrunk stable to subsequent shrinkage and stretch of approximately one percent.

7. A woven fabric composed of single yarns, one set of yarns being substantially of staple rayon fibre and arranged in groups, a. second set of yarns being substantially of cotton fibres and arranged in groups, and interspersed with the first group of yarns throughout one dimension of the fabric, and a third set of yarns containing at least fifty percent spun rayon and being interwoven with the first and second groups at right angles thereto, the fabric being colored with dyes fast to bleaching and shrunk stable to subsequent shrinkage and stretch of approximately one percent.

8. A plain weave cloth composed of warp ends, one substantally of cotton and one substantially of spun rayon, alternating end and end across the warp, and a filling substantially of spun rayon, dyed in colors fast to bleaching and Dre-shrunk.

9. A method of producing a, textile fabric having substantially the visual and tactile characteristics of an all-rayon fabric and also the fast and uniform color that is characteristic of cotton oodsithat have been dyed with vat dyes under tension in continuous dyeing machinery commonly employed for dyeing such goods, which comprises interweaving a warp made up of rayon yarns and cotton yarns in distributed arrangement across the fabric with a filling made up of rayon yarns, the cotton yarns being present in.

such number as to impart tensile strength to the fabric when wet sumcient to enable it to with- REFERENCES crrap The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Bloch Sept. 14, 1943 Number 

